Felix expected the first gate to feel like the portal he used to come to the Crossroad. Instead, he felt like he’d taken a normal step, no falling in every direction or having his eyes trying to interpret the smell of blue. The world around him twisted, and the next thing he knew, he was standing in a clearing, surrounded by beasts.

  The first thing he noticed was the pressure. He’d expected an easy first trial, but within the time it took to blink, he knew that this would be anything but. He froze, too scared to move as the presence of the creatures next to him bore down on him.

  Ever so slowly, Felix raised his head. The first thing he noticed was that they were all standing behind a line in the ground. He didn’t have time to consider it as a loud snap startled him. He tried to stay still, but it was too late. He could feel a hot, musky breath tousle his hair. He cautiously lifted his gaze to see a grey feline creature staring down at him. Its features were blurry and indistinct, as if the sunlight was trying to drive away its existence.

  Felix was relieved to see the thing turn its attention away from him as another snap sounded out further to his left. Feilx could just barely make out some sort of rabbit-like creature through the panther’s legs. It seemed to be gnawing on a bone that was thicker than he was broad.

  Felix cautiously started backing away, hoping beyond hope that none of them would pay him any mind. His heart slammed against his ribs with so much force that if they hadn’t gotten along so well his entire life, he’d have expected it to be trying to escape and leave him behind as a decoy.

  As soon as he took his first step, he heard feathers rustling to his right. He froze again and slowly looked over to see a massive owl with deep purple feathers pinning him with its gaze. Its neck turned at an unnatural angle to keep Felix in the centre of its vision.

  Felix swallowed, scared of what it might do. For a moment, the world stood still before all four creatures shot into motion. Felix raised his arms to shield himself, only to notice them all dashing away from him. The owl's gaze remained trained on Felix, but he managed to barely catch a glimpse of the last creature.

  A monstrous mass of spiked scales haphazardly assembled into a vaguely humanoid form. It was slower than the others, but still burst off at a speed Felix had no hope of matching. Its elongated arms dragged furrows in the earth behind it as it let its claws rake the dirt.

  When the owl disappeared over the treetops, Felix finally took a breath. He fell onto the forest floor just waiting for his heart to realise they’d survived. As soon as he had enough presence of mind to take in his surroundings, he jumped up. In the short time he’d sat there, moisture had already seeped through his pants and wet his underclothes. His pant legs were covered in small green insects.

  He was so caught up in trying to shake them off that by the time he realised he probably shouldn’t be making so much noise, he no longer felt safe in the clearing.

  “Spokes! Ok, what do I do?”

  Felix was surrounded on all sides by thick jungle. Off in the distance, he could see a mountain peaking through the trees, so tall that the peaks were covered in ice. For a moment, Felix stood awestruck at its size, having never seen a mountain before. He couldn’t believe how massive they were. Even though he was a great distance away, he could see that some parts were obscured by clouds.

  No picture, no painting, nor poem ever managed to drive home the sheer scale of mountains. It was enormous. While staring at the mountain in stupefaction, he realised that he already knew what to do.

  He’d been so focused on the terrifying animals and then by the jungle and mountain that he’d failed to realise he already knew what the challenge was. It was a little disturbing how quickly he’d gotten used to knowledge just appearing in his head.

  When Felix focused on the task he’d have to accomplish for his first gate, his mouth fell open.

  Then he laughed, he laughed so hard his sides started aching and tears rolled down his face, he couldn’t even remain standing as he dropped to the ground and clutched his ribs. He didn’t worry about the noise he was making anymore. Tears streamed down his cheeks as the sheer absurdity of the task dawned on him.

  A race, he was supposed to race those monstrosities through this forest and up the mountain. His way would be blocked until he won.

  How could he not laugh? One was a bird. How in the creator’s dream was he supposed to beat a bird to the top of a mountain?

  ‘I must have been pecked in the head to think coming back to the Ways was a good idea.’

  Lying on his back, Felix did the only thing he could do. He gave up.

  With a quick twist of reality and a pop, he was outside the Ways again. Staring at the golden gate, he wondered if he’d get into trouble for kicking the thing. While he was wondering if he could make a dent, a group of aspirants walked by. They looked away from him so hard that it left no doubt they were looking at him.

  The Crossroad had filled while he was away. He shrugged, wound up, and kicked the gate as hard as he could.

  It hurt.

  The gate was fine.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  ‘I probably look like hell already, who cares if they watch?’

  Taking a quick glance at the ever-stationary sun, he felt that he had a couple of hours until lunch. As much as he was in the mood to skip it, he’d already bailed on Lara during breakfast. He left a message with Agrona telling Lara he’d be there for lunch, so he’d have to suck it up.

  After what he put her through, there was no way he could make her look for him again. Even if he could bring himself to do it, he had a feeling that Aster might beat him to a pulp if he tried pulling something like that.

  Still judging by the looks being shot his way, it might be a good idea to get himself cleaned up before then.

  Still, there was plenty of time. He’d avoid the crowded dormitory for as long as he could. He’d go back to the garden, and the stream there would be enough to wash his face.

  The quick trip to the garden was uneventful. Unfortunately, Felix quickly realised that while the garden was the quietest place in the Crossroad, that was only by comparison. The place was practically crawling with aspirants. Furthermore, it seemed like they’d all lost their minds.

  The first few people he found were still somewhat normal, only sitting still in meditation. The rest must have been in dire need of space when packing for the Crossroad. Because it seemed like they had to leave behind their sanity to fit their socks.

  Felix nearly fell flat on his face when the ground beneath him suddenly yelled in pain. Jumping back, he looked down to see he’d stepped on the head of someone who’d buried themselves from the neck down in the ground.

  “Watch where you’re going, would you!”

  Felix was so surprised he didn’t even argue. He just apologised and moved on. As he left, he heard a scoff from up the tree.

  “Some people, really.”

  Looking up, he saw a boy looking down on him with a disapproving look. He might have felt bad if the boy weren’t also stripped down to his underclothes and tied to the top of the tree around his waist.

  “What are you looking at? Going to interrupt my training, too? Just move along, would you?”

  “Right, sorry…”

  Felix backed away from the spot, eyeing the two with suspicion. Things didn’t end there. When he tried washing his face in the stream, he was yelled at by a girl who’d been lying on her back with only her nose above the water for ‘contaminating the mana’.

  He tried finding another spot, but everywhere he went, he found people buried in the ground, lying down in the river, or tying themselves to trees. Some hugged stones or performed strange interpretive dances.

  One small benefit of everyone losing their mind was that Felix’s admittedly bedraggled appearance didn’t draw much attention. The only sideways looks he got were when he got too close to any of the strange children who’d decided to experience life as produce.

  Wanting to just get out of there, Felix cleaned himself up as best he could before hurriedly making his way back to the dining hall. He was a little early, but it was a trade-off he was willing to accept.

  Fortunately, Lara and Aster had arrived early as well, and it didn’t take him long to spot them. Lara excitedly chatted away while Aster looked stern and silent. Someone less familiar with Lara might have missed the way her eyes scanned the dining hall every few seconds and the little frown she didn’t quite manage to hide. Aster was the first to spot him, and to his surprise, she almost looked relieved to see him.

  When she pointed him out to Lara, he could see the tension leave her as her shoulders relaxed. As soon as Felix got close enough, he was swept up in a hug.

  “I’m so glad you made it. I was worried when you didn’t show up for breakfast. You don’t have to worry about the people from yesterday. I gave them a real talking to after you left. They promised to be nice.”

  Felix smiled. It wasn’t necessary, but he kind of appreciated it. He just hugged her a little tighter before letting go.

  “Thank you, that’s not why I didn’t show up to breakfast. I woke up early and didn’t want to waste the morning waiting for everyone else to wake up. I paid another visit to the Ways instead. I can’t go falling too far behind now, can I?” Felix tried to force cheer into his voice, but he couldn’t stop a bit of bitterness from slipping into his tone.

  Worried that Lara would catch on and grow concerned again, he quickly changed the topic.

  “We should get a place to sit. I’m sure it’s going to fill up soon. Oh yeah! Hello Aster, sorry for ignoring you.”

  The slowly increasing din and medley of food smells supported Felix’s idea that the dining hall would soon be packed. The three quickly found a secluded corner to settle down in. Before they knew it, Agrona had dropped off their food and dashed away to deal with the lunch rush. Her smile told Felix that she didn’t mind the rush. She seemed to be in her element staffing the massive operation on her own.

  While she took orders from aspirants who insisted she always did so with a frown. She didn’t ask about their table. She just dropped off a unique dish for each of them. Felix got a salad with strips of smoked fish and a cup of green tea. It wasn’t as good as Alvara’s tea, but it was still quite refreshing.

  “Have you guys been to the garden?”

  Aster and Lara shook their heads. Lara’s mouth was stuffed full of… something. She’d received a massive eight-winged bird, stuffed and roasted with a side salad and a juice that looked suspiciously like wine. While she’d dug in straight away, Aster was still working out how to eat her massive steak.

  “We mostly work out at the gym,” Aster responded.

  “I took a trip there earlier. I think a flock of lumirels passed by. It was madness. It was covered in aspirants doing bizarre things, burying themselves, stringing themselves up in trees, hugging rocks. I don’t know what’s going on there.”

  Neither of them looked surprised.

  “They’re practicing their spells. You need to sense mana to cast it. It helps to be close to your affinity. Haven’t you tried casting yours?” Aster asked, finally finding an angle of attack that let her carve into the meat.

  As soon as she mentioned it, he realised that it made sense. He might not have walked very far on his path, but he still learned a bit about mana. He’d probably learn quite a bit by taking time to sit under a tree himself. Still with a spell like his, he hardly saw the point. Sleeping a little better and preventing period cramps weren’t going to help him somehow beat those monsters in a race.

  Felix should have been more upset about getting a useless spell. But in all honesty, he had so many things to be depressed about that having a useless spell hardly fazed him. Still, he didn’t want to tell Aster why he wasn’t trying to cast it.

  “Not yet. Does Agrona really think you two can eat all that? That’s insane! That steak is larger than my head!”

  While Felix expected them to agree with him, he only received silence in return. Looking up, he noticed both girls averting their eyes, with Lara looking a little embarrassed.

  ‘There’s no way, right?’ Felix thought to himself with his mouth agape.

  Aster just started digging in, and Lara also started picking at her salad. Not wanting the awkwardness to continue, Felix shifted the conversation with all the grace of a drunkard who’d gambled away their prosthetic leg.

  “So, how did your journey go yesterday? I saw you guys entering the Ways.”

  Lara kept picking at her salad, “It’s not that much food.”

  Aster turned the plate and started an assault on the eastern flank, having created an opening with her previous attack on her steak.

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